The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has announced receipt of a $2 million gift from Renee Haugerud and John H. Murphy. According to the Times Free Press, the contribution will be split with $1.5 million to establish the Renee Haugerud and John H. Murphy Global Finance Center at the business school and the remaining $500,000 earmarked for the university’s football program. Ms. Haugerud and Mr. Murphy run hedge fun Galtere, Ltd., with Ms. Haugerud serving as managing principal and chief investment officer and Mr. Murphy in the role of chief development officer. Mr. Murphy is an alumnus of the university, was a “walk-on” for the school’s football team as a student and was a teammate of the team’s current coach, Russ Huesman, and offensive line coach, Russ Ehrenfeld.

Nova Southeastern University in Florida has announced receipt of one its largest gifts ever from Fort Lauderdale philanthropist Don Taft. While the amount of the unrestricted contribution was not revealed at the request of the donor, the university will rename its university center in his honor. According to the Sun Sentinel, Mr. Taft also expressed an interest in have his gift assist the Special Olympics of Broward County and Nova Southeastern has welcomed the organization to relocate to its campus.

Kennesaw State University has announced receipt of a $1.5 million grant from the Harnisch Foundation to establish a center to research and develop innovative ways to produce and distribute news. The grant, which will be spread over five years, will help underwrite applied research, build collaborations and advance innovative journalism projects regionally and around the country. The center will be overseen by Leonard Witt, Kennesaw State’s Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication, who has been described by the university as “a pioneer in developing community-supported journalism models and exploring the potential of online social networks to disseminate news.” As foundation president Ruth Ann Harnisch explained in a Kennesaw newsletter, “Technology has changed everything for everyone in every way…Len Witt understands how that affects the flow of information. I am investing in his leadership in the field because he’s willing to engage in bold experiments that could help shape the future of journalism.”

John and Heidi Niblack are donating $3.5 million in support of the Norton Museum‘s Chinese art programs. $2 million will be used to acquire Chinese paintings and the balance will be split evenly between renovation of a gallery to house the paintings, Chinese art-related educational programs and annual operating expenses over the next five years. John Niblack, now retired and residing with his wife in Palm Beach part-time, serves as vice chairman of the museum’s board. Personally, the Niblacks are also noted collectors of Chinese paintings from the Ming (1368-1644) and early Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. According to the Palm Beach Daily News, Mr. Niblack developed his appetite for Chinese ink paintings when travelling to Asia frequently as Pfizer’s vice chairman and president of worldwide research and development in the early 90’s.

Montclair State University has received an anonymous donation of $5 million, the largest such gift in the institution’s history. According to announcement by the University News division, the funds will be used principally to fund scholarships to women and minorities.

The University of Illinois has just announced receipt of a $12 million endowment gift from the estate of 1944 alumnae Arlys Streitmatter Conrad. The gift will be shared equally by the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS). Mrs. Conrad had worked at S&C Electric […]

Over 100 public schools in northeastern Oklahoma will receive more than $3 million from The Cherokee Nation in 2009. The donation will come from revenue generated by tribal car tag sales. As principal Chief Chad Smith said at a news conference announcing the gift, “Innovative educational programs continue to be a priority as we plan […]

In February, John M. Shapiro and Shonni J. Silverberg made a gift of $3.5 million to “transform the teaching of writing” at Wesleyan University and endow institution’s Creative Writing Center. The donors asked that $2.5 million of the gift be used to endow a faculty position in writing and that the remaining $1 million support […]

Jarvis Christian College has received $250,000 from an anonymous member of the Northway Christian Church. The contribution, announced by Jarvis in January, will be used to endow a scholarship for a Northway student to attend the school. Jarvis and Northway have a strong relationship, according to the Longview News-Journal, with the church supporting the co […]

The UCLA Library has received $5 million from the Arcadia Fund to “further develop, preserve and make accessible its collections,” according to the UCLA Newsroom. This is the largest single gift for collections in the history of the library. The Arcadia Fund, a British grantmaking fund administered by Charities Aid Foundation which has made several […] […]

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation has pledged $1 million to The UCLA Foundation to fund an endowed chair in clinical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The focus of the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Endowed Chair in Interdepartmental Clinical Pharmacology will be to catalyze the UCLA’s current program by […] […]

The UCLA Anderson School of Management has announced a $1 million gift from Board of Visitors member Richard S. Ziman, chairman of American Value Partners and co-chair of the school’s $100 million fundraising campaign. One half of the contribution will fund the new Richard S. Ziman Fellowship, which will support graduate students studying real estate, […] […]

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has announced receipt of a $2 million gift from Renee Haugerud and John H. Murphy. According to the Times Free Press, the contribution will be split with $1.5 million to establish the Renee Haugerud and John H. Murphy Global Finance Center at the business school and the remaining $500,000 […]

Hong Kong martial arts action star Jackie Chan is donating historical Chinese houses valued at over US$67 million (S$101 million) to a new Singaporean university slated to open in 2011. According to reports in AFP, Chan will give the campus seven wooden houses and a performing stage from his private collection which date to the […]